CBME-FM is an

English-language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

located in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec, Canada.

Owned and operated In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...

by the government-owned

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

, it broadcasts on 88.5

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

using a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

with an average

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

of 11,510

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s and a peak effective radiated power of 25,000 watts ( class B) from a

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

atop

Mount Royal Mount Royal (, ) is a mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The city's name is derived from the mountain's name. The mountain is part of the Monteregian Hills situated between the Laurentian M ...

. The station has a commercial-free

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

and is part of the

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent o ...

network which operates across Canada. Like all CBC Radio One stations, but unlike most FM stations, it broadcasts in

mono Mono may refer to: Biology * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monocyte, a type of leukocyte (white blood cell) * Monodactylidae, members of which are referred to as monos Technology and computing * Mono (audio), single-c ...

. Some local shows and newscasts produced at CBME-FM are also heard on a chain of stations across Quebec. Its studios and offices, along with those of

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

CBM-FM CBM-FM (93.5 MHz) is a public non-commercial radio station in Montreal, Quebec. It carries the English-language CBC Music network. Owned and operated by the government-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CBM-FM is a Class C1 station. It ...

CBF-FM CBF-FM is a French-language radio station licensed to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Owned and operated by the government-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, it transmits on 95.1 MHz from the Mount Royal candelabra tower with an effective radia ...

and

CBFX-FM CBFX-FM (100.7 MHz) is a public non-commercial radio station in Montreal, Quebec. It is the flagship station of the Ici Musique Network and broadcasts in French. Owned and operated by the government-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Frenc ...

are located at the Nouvelle Maison de Radio-Canada at 1000

Papineau Avenue Papineau Avenue () is the longest north–south street in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The part of the street between Henri Bourassa Boulevard and Quebec Autoroute 40 is the Montreal portion of Quebec Autoroute 19, commonly referred to as ''Autorout ...

Master control Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as swit ...

is at the

Canadian Broadcasting Centre The Canadian Broadcasting Centre, also known as the Toronto Broadcast Centre, is an office and studio complex located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It serves as the main broadcast and master control centre for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporati ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

History

The station was launched in 1933 on 1050 AM and was originally known as CRCM, operated by the

Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission The Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC/CCR; ), also referred to as the Canadian Radio Commission (CRC), was Canada's first public broadcaster and the immediate precursor to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Origins The CRBC was est ...

. When ownership was transferred to the CBC in 1937, the station

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

became CBM and the frequency was changed to 960. On March 29, 1941, like most radio stations in North America, CBM moved to 940. Originally 5,000 watts, CBM's power was increased to 50,000 watts, the maximum power permitted by the

CRTC The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...

for AM stations. Prior to 1978, CBM broadcast from a transmitter site near Marieville. In 1978 the CBC consolidated its two AM transmitters for Montreal at a site in

Brossard Brossard ( , , ) is a municipality in the Montérégie region of Quebec, Canada and is part of the Greater Montreal, Greater Montreal area. According to the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census, Brossard's population was 91,525. It shares powers with ...

, on the south shore of Montreal. The AM transmitter allowed CBM to be heard across most of the eastern half of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

at night, including much of

Eastern Canada Eastern Canada (, also the Eastern provinces, Canadian East or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of Hudson Bay/ Hudson Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newf ...

. However, it was difficult to hear in some parts of Montreal during the day. To solve the problem, CBM got permission to move to 88.5 FM on July 4, 1997.Decision CRTC 97-294
/ref> The FM transmitter went on the air in 1998, and the AM transmitter was shut down in May 1999, four months after

French-language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-Romance, a descendant of the Latin spoken in ...

sister station CBF, which got permission to move to FM at the same time and which shared CBM's transmitter site in Brossard, shut down its own AM transmitter on 690 kHz. The 940 outlet is a Class A

clear-channel station A clear-channel station is a North American AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classification exists to ensure the viability of cross ...

which is nulled slightly in the direction of

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

to protect the other Class A station on 940,

XEQ-AM XEQ-AM (940 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Mexico City. The concession is held by Cadena Radiodifusora Mexicana, S.A. de C.V. and is operated by Radiópolis. It airs a Spanish-language adult hits radio format known as "La Q 940." ...

. There are plans to return it to service, offering

commercial programming. The call sign change to CBME-FM occurred in order to distinguish the station from

Local programming

The station's

local programs Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

are '' Daybreak Montreal'' (hosted by Sean Henry) in the morning and ''Let's Go'' (hosted by Sabrina Marandola) in the afternoon. The station also produces the Quebec edition of ''

Radio Noon Radio Noon is the name of CBC Radio One's CBC Radio One local programming, regional noon-hour programs in the Canada, Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. It was formerly the name of all of the network's noon progra ...

'', which airs on all Radio One transmitters throughout the province. The station also broadcasts ''All in a Weekend'' on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and ''Cinq à Six'' on Saturdays.

Transmitters

CBM once operated a large network of

repeaters ''Repeaters'' is a 2010 Canadian thriller film directed by Carl Bessai, written by Arne Olsen, and starring Dustin Milligan, Amanda Crew, and Richard de Klerk as young drug addicts who find themselves stuck in a time loop. Plot Kyle, Sonia, and ...

across the eastern two-thirds of Quebec. However, most of those repeaters were transferred to the license of

CBVE-FM CBVE-FM is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts the programming of the CBC Radio One network at 104.7 FM in Quebec City, Quebec. The station's main transmitter is located at Mount Bélair. Its studios are co-located with its francophone s ...

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

when it became a separate station in 1994. Because of deficiencies with the main FM signal which did not exist when the station was on AM, CBME-FM added FM rebroadcasting transmitters with directional antennas in the western part of Montreal (98 watts, from the corner of Cavendish and

Sherbrooke Street Sherbrooke Street (officially in ) is a major east–west artery and at in length, is the second longest street on the Island of Montreal, Canada. The street begins in the town of Montreal West, Quebec, Montreal West and ends on the extreme ...

s in

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (, , ), commonly known as NDG, is a residential neighbourhood of Montreal in the city's West End, with a population of 166,520 (2016). An independent municipality until annexed by the City of Montreal in 1910, NDG is today o ...

) and in Cowansville (2,700 watts). The call sign CBME was formerly used for a low-power AM repeater in

La Tuque La Tuque ( , , ) is a city located in north-central Quebec, Canada, on the Saint-Maurice River, between Trois-Rivières and Chambord. The population was 11,129 at the 2021 Canadian census, most of which live within the urban area. At over , i ...

which changed to CBVE-1.

References

External links

CBC Montreal

CBME-FM
at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the

Canadian Communications Foundation The Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) was a Canadian nonprofit organization which documented the history of broadcasting in Canada, particularly radio and television networks, programs and broadcasters. The organization was established in ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cbme-Fm Bme Bme Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission Bme Radio stations established in 1937 1937 establishments in Quebec